In creating the background for many of Tõnu Tormis's (1954) portraits, it is worth knowing that many Estonian photographers have made it their main mission to portray cultural figures. As if anticipating the permanent and tragic possibility of the ethnic disappearance of our nation, Estonia has throughout the ages, systematically tried to capture and catalogue precisely those we call the 'elite', the shell of brain-potential bearers that uninterrupted history has bequeathed to us despite the winds of East and West. In short: writers-artists-scientists-poets-educators. The way in which they are portrayed draws directly on the architecture of Tõnu Tormis's vision of the world: a static, even majestic composition.
All of Tõnu Tormis's photographs were taken in the era of black-and-white analogue photography - they speak to us in a language of blacks, whites and greys, and his images are characterised by their sharpness, their laconicism and the interplay of light and dark. In his later pictorial characterisation, a thorough knowledge of the subject and a long-term observation of the subject are decisive factors. The portrait series, like many of Tõnu Tormis's photographs, leaves behind the age-old debate over 'documentary' versus 'staged' photography.

The exhibition will be open on the second floor gallery of the University of Tartu Library from 18.10.2024 to 18.01.2025.